Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Threatens $30 Billion NASA Moon Base Plan
Updated
Updated · SpaceNews · Jun 9
Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Threatens $30 Billion NASA Moon Base Plan
3 articles · Updated · SpaceNews · Jun 9
Summary
May 28’s static-fire blast at Cape Canaveral destroyed New Glenn and badly damaged Launch Complex 36, knocking out a lightning tower and the transporter-erector while leaving no injuries.
Seven BE-4 engines had just ignited when the rocket exploded, and Blue Origin says it has regained limited pad access and begun investigating the anomaly and planning a rebuild.
Months of repairs now look likely, with some industry estimates stretching to about a year; a similar 2016 Falcon 9 pad explosion took SpaceX 15 months to recover from.
That outage could push Moon Base 1 into 2027, delay NASA’s VIPER and lunar rover deliveries, and complicate Artemis 3, which NASA had still been targeting for mid-2027.
NASA had only days earlier outlined a more than $30 billion, decade-plus lunar base effort built around Blue Origin’s Blue Moon landers, leaving the agency to rework plans it had just unveiled.